Dead battery or dead distributor

[tgeny79]

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So after my car sat for a few days the battery was dead (1990 SOHC 240 Coupe). Ok I jump it. I drive it around a bit and park. 5 mins later I try to restart. The battery is completely dead. WTF? I think. So I try again jump and just let it idle for a good 15 mins. Turn car off, restart, battery is completely dead again. This has been goin on for a while now. I use a little jump-starter to get the car going. Sometimes when I disconnect the car will die, sometimes not. I am thinking its the alternator but I thinking more like a short somewhere maybe? I hate electrics. What can I check out to see if its the alternator? I am getting one from a friend to throw in but... Could it be an accessor like the CD player? Thanks. BTW, this is a brand new less than a month old battery.

[TheOne]

go to autozone, they check either for free.(battery or alternator)

[rn240sx]

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So after my car sat for a few days the battery was dead (1990 SOHC 240 Coupe). Ok I jump it. I drive it around a bit and park. 5 mins later I try to restart. The battery is completely dead. WTF? I think. So I try again jump and just let it idle for a good 15 mins. Turn car off, restart, battery is completely dead again. This has been goin on for a while now. I use a little jump-starter to get the car going. Sometimes when I disconnect the car will die, sometimes not. I am thinking its the alternator but I thinking more like a short somewhere maybe? I hate electrics. What can I check out to see if its the alternator? I am getting one from a friend to throw in but... Could it be an accessor like the CD player? Thanks. BTW, this is a brand new less than a month old battery.

Do this, after u get it started, drive around and come to a complete stop and check to see if the motor wants to die off... If it does and u have to hit the gas pedal to keep it alive... then ur alternator is shot.

If it idle's fine when u come to a stop, then ur alternator is fine, thats a direct indication that ur battery is shot..!!

If all else fails, drive to your local auto parts place and have them check the battery and alternator..

[chetamus]

Most likely your battery has one or two dead cells. When the car is jumped and running it is using the juice from your alternator. As soon as you turn it off, the alternator iis not producing anymore current (or course). With 1-2 dead cells your battery will only put out around 9-volts which is not enough to pull in your starter solenoid, there-for it acts like its dead. The battery will put out some current but not enough. You can check your battery with a hydrometer which tests the specific gravity of each cell, unless yours is a maitenance free battery. A short will NOT drain a good car battery in minutes.

[VinceSez]

maybe your starter?????

[xekushnr]

i believe its your alternator. bring it to a parts store, they can usually bench test them for free. but now since you have charged and drained your battery a bunch of times, its probably not good either.

also, after jumping a car that you know has a dead battery, i usually keep it running for about half an hour before cutting it off. drive it around for a bit, let it idle, do whatever just so the alternator can let it charge.

[benemorius]

Most likely a bad alternator if the battery is so new. A car can still idle perfectly fine with a bad alternator depending on how far gone it is. Easiest thing to do is grab a multimeter and check the voltage at the battery with the car idling. It should read somewhere around 13.5. Anything less than 13 is not good. If it's low, pull your throttle while watching the voltage. If the voltage rises, you can be 99.9% sure your alternator is gone. If it doesn't, you still need to take it out and have the parts store test it as you can still be 90% sure that it's gone.

[R240sx]

I believe if you start the car and disconnect the negetive or positive pole and the car turns of its the alternator. I just cant remember if its the negetive, or the positive one that does it.

[benemorius]

Disconnecting either would have the same effect, however it is possible for an alternator to be bad yet pass this test. The test works, it's just not definitive.